Movies Like The Symbol of a Man

If you liked The Symbol of a Man (1963), a drama movie directed by Akinori Matsuo, here are 20 movies with a similar feel, based on TMDB's recommendations. Each one links to its cast, trailer and where it's streaming.

1
Battles Without Honor and Humanity: Deadly Fight in Hiroshima (1973)
★ 7.3/10Also drama
Repeatedly beat to a pulp by gamblers, cops, and gangsters, lone wolf Shoji Yamanaka finally finds a home as a Muraoka family hitman and falls in love with boss Muraoka's niece. Meanwhile, the ambitions of mad dog…
2
Battles Without Honor and Humanity (1973)
★ 7.3/10Also drama
In the teeming black markets of postwar Japan, Shozo Hirono and his buddies find themselves in a new war between factious and ambitious yakuza.
3
The Outsider (2018)
★ 6.1/10Also drama
A former American G.I. joins a yakuza family after his release from prison in post-World War II Osaka.
4
House of Bamboo (1955)
★ 6.2/10Also drama
Eddie Kenner is given a special assignment by the Army to get the inside story on Sandy Dawson, a former GI who has formed a gang of fellow servicemen and Japanese locals.
5
High and Low (1963)
★ 8.4/10Also drama
A Yokohama shoe executive faces a wrenching choice when kidnappers mistakenly seize his chauffeur’s son but demand the ransom anyway.
6
Hardball (2001)
★ 6.5/10Also drama
An aimless young man who is scalping tickets, gambling and drinking, agrees to coach a Little League team from the Cabrini Green housing project in Chicago as a condition of getting a loan from a friend.
7
Samurai Rebellion (1967)
★ 8.2/10Also drama
The mother of a feudal lord's only heir is kidnapped by the lord. Her husband and his samurai father must decide whether to accept the unjust decision, or risk death to rescue her.
8
The Tale of Zatoichi (1962)
★ 7.3/10Also drama
The adventures of a blind, gambling masseur and master swordsman. Zatoichi targets a yakuza-controlled village, because war with a neighbouring town's smaller gang is brewing.
9
Lady Snowblood (1973)
★ 7.5/10Also drama
A strikingly beautiful young woman is trained from birth to be a deadly instrument of revenge against the swindlers who destroyed her family.
10
Scarlet (2025)
★ 6.9/10Also drama
After failing to avenge her father's murder, Princess Scarlet, wakes up in the "Land of the Dead." In this world filled with madness, if she does not achieve her revenge against her nemesis and reach the "No End…
11
Lupin the Third: Island of Assassins (1997)
★ 6.5/10Also drama
Lupin is framed for the murder of Inspector Zenigata by a mysterious assailant holding a silver-coloured Walther P38 pistol Lupin himself once owned. Tracking the true killer leads Lupin to the island of the…
12
Hello (2022)
★ 6.3/10Also drama
An emotionally unavailable flight attendant meets a potential love interest and later finds out that her "perfect guy" has ulterior motives. As the clock ticks down on New Year's Eve, she must fight to keep her…
13
Hands of Stone (2016)
★ 6.6/10Also drama
The legendary Roberto Duran and his equally legendary trainer Ray Arcel change each other's lives.
14
47 Ronin (2013)
★ 6.2/10Also drama
Kai—an outcast—joins Oishi, the leader of 47 outcast samurai. Together they seek vengeance upon the treacherous overlord who killed their master and banished their kind. To restore honour to their homeland, the…
15
The Ballad of Narayama (1983)
★ 7.5/10Also drama
In a small village in a valley everyone who reaches the age of 70 must leave the village and go to a certain mountain top to die. If anyone should refuse they would disgrace their family. Old Orin is 69. This winter it…
16
Beast (2026)
★ 7.5/10Also drama
MMA legend Patton James, now a commercial fisherman, is pulled back into the cage when his brother is in danger. Reuniting with his old coach Sammy, he commits to one final fight in one championship against the brutal…
17
Black Rain (1989)
★ 6.6/10Also drama
Two New York cops get involved in a gang war between members of the Yakuza, the Japanese Mafia. They arrest one of their killers and are ordered to escort him back to Japan. However, in Japan he manages to escape, and…
18
Detective Conan: The Last Wizard of the Century (1999)
★ 7.4/10Also drama
Kaitou Kid dares to challenge the police once more, setting his sights on the Russian Imperial Easter Egg. With the date, time, and place, the Osaka police force scrambles to stop him. But this time, Kid may have…
19
Gonin (1995)
★ 6.6/10Also drama
Five men plot to steal a large sum of money from the local yakuza, but everything does not go as planned and the men find themselves hunted down by contract killers.
20
Late Spring (1949)
★ 8/10Also drama
Noriko is perfectly happy living at home with her widowed father, Shukichi, and has no plans to marry -- that is, until her aunt Masa convinces Shukichi that unless he marries off his 27-year-old daughter soon, she…